Robert Englund, Alan Moore among FrightFest guests

Film4 FrightFest (Aug 21-25) has unveiled its guest list, topped by A Nightmare On Elm Street star Robert Englund.

The US horror actor will attend the festival to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Wes Craven classic, screening on Aug 24, and to launch the latest production in which he stars, The Last Showing, which screens Aug 22.

Festival co-director Alan Jones described Englund as “one of the genre’s originals” and “an icon of fright”.

In support of opening film The Guest, US actress Maika Monroe will present the UK premiere of the thriller, directed by Adam Wingard and co-starring Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens. Monroe is also the star of horror It Follows, which debuted at Cannes.

Alan Moore, the author of bestselling graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell, will attend the festival to introduce and discuss his short film trilogy Show Pieces with director Mitch Jenkins.

John McNaughton, director of Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer, will visit FrightFest with his latest thriller, The Harvest.

Essie Davis, who plays stressed out mother Amelia in Australian feature The Babadook, has been named the Total Film sponsored guest of honour.

Director Nacho Vigalondo has three films in the line-up: Open Windows, sci-fi comedy Extraterrestrial and V/H/S: Viral.

Other directors visiting the festival include Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz with thriller Alleluia; Till Kleinert with post-modern slasher The Samurai; Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, the duo behind Starry Eyes; and Adam Green with Digging Up the Marrow.

From South America, Argentine director Adrian Garcia Bogliano will bring werewolf feature Late Phases while Venezuelan director Alejandro Hidalgo will present The House at the End of Time.

Additional directors travelling to London to introduce their work include Milan Todorovic (Nymph), Luke Hymans (Xmoor), Jay Weisman (Shockwave Darkside 3D), Ivan Kavanagh (The Canal) Phil Hawkins (The Last Showing) Ben Wagner (Dead Within), David Campbell (Lemon Tree Passage), Ate De Jong (Deadly Virtues), David Gregory (Lost Souls), John Shackleton (The Sleeping Room), Jeremy Wooding (Blood Moon), Jessica Cameron (Truth Or Dare), Alexandre O Philippe (Doc Of The Dead), Ollie Frampton (The Forgotten), Ed Boase (The Mirror), Adam Spinks (The Expedition), Simeon Haligan (White Settlers), Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik) and Federico Zampaglone (Remember).

The stars of the films in attendance (with more to be confirmed) include Pit Bukowski and Michel Diercks (The Samurai), Rupert Evans and Steve Oram (The Canal), The Last Showing stars Emily Berrington, Finn Jones and Malachi Kirby, Xmoor stars Nick Blood and Sofie Harkness, Deadly Virtues actor Edward Akrout, Shaun Dooley (Blood Moon), Leila Mimmock and Joseph Beatty (The Sleeping Room), Joshua Dickinson & Nate Fallows (The Mirror) and Emily Booth (Selkie).

Producers set to attend include Jan Harlan (The Shining), Alex Baranska (The Last Showing) Christian Arnold-Beutel (Shockwave Darkside 3D) Gallien Chanalet-Quercy (I Survived A Zombie Holocaust), Michael Vine (Blood Moon) and Gareth I Davis (The Sleeping Room).

More than 100 filmmakers, performers, writers and producers will attend the 15th Film4 FrightFest event in London from Aug 21-25.